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125
Dec 6, 2012
12/12
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cliff, and he's clearly not interested at all in cutting any spending. what the president is really interested in, as we learned just yesterday, is getting as much taxpayer money as he can, first, by raising taxes on small business that he believes are making too much money and then on everybody else, not so he can lower the debt or the deficit but so he can spend to his heart's contefnlts for months the president has been saying all he wants is to raise taxes on the top 2% so he can tackle the debt and the deficit. however, yesterday he finally revealed that's not really his true intent. by demanding the power to raise the debt limit whenever he wants, by as much as he wants, he showed what he's really after is assuming unprecedented power to spend taxpayer dollars without any limit at all. this isn't about getting a handle on deficits or debt for him. it's about spending even more than he already has. why else would he demand the power to raise the debt limit on his own? by the way, why on earth would we ever consider giving a president who's brought u
cliff, and he's clearly not interested at all in cutting any spending. what the president is really interested in, as we learned just yesterday, is getting as much taxpayer money as he can, first, by raising taxes on small business that he believes are making too much money and then on everybody else, not so he can lower the debt or the deficit but so he can spend to his heart's contefnlts for months the president has been saying all he wants is to raise taxes on the top 2% so he can tackle the...
91
91
Dec 1, 2012
12/12
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CSPAN2
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it was the fiscal cliff 1.0. the tax cuts were set to expire and senator reid was on the floor. the democrats did not want to extend all the tax cuts. they only wanted to do some of the tax cuts. and he was trying to create an impression of the time that republicans were obstructing the process. but in reality, they were respecting the agenda and creating an environment that they can win politically. and he said right after this quote, a rare weekend session in the senate -- he had to senate's side by side. no republicans and he set this up and show that republicans were obstructionist. but they would not go along with what he said is that the country. this is a public relations ploy designed to shift the democrat ability to go along with what republicans have to do. the republicans are saying we don't want to go along with what the democrats want to do. in short, he was seeking to control the agenda and i think that's the real issue. certainly, there are times when minorities of both parties both needed to or wanted to. but the real issue is one of agenda control. we actually h
it was the fiscal cliff 1.0. the tax cuts were set to expire and senator reid was on the floor. the democrats did not want to extend all the tax cuts. they only wanted to do some of the tax cuts. and he was trying to create an impression of the time that republicans were obstructing the process. but in reality, they were respecting the agenda and creating an environment that they can win politically. and he said right after this quote, a rare weekend session in the senate -- he had to senate's...
83
83
Dec 1, 2012
12/12
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CSPAN2
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eye 83
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it wast( the prefiscal cliff or fiscal cliff 1.0 #. the 2001 tax cuts about to expire. senator reid on the floor, the democrats did not want to extend all tax cuts, just some of the tax cuts, and he was trying to create an impression that, at the time, that republicans were obstructing the process and what the democrats wanted to do, but in reallots what reid was trying to do, i believe, was set the agenda and create an environment so that he could win politically and set up after the quote, a rare weekend session in the senate where he had two votes, no republican amendments allowed, and he set this up to show that republicans were obstructionists, and that they would not go along with what he said was good for the country, and this was a public relations ploy designed to shift attention from the democrats inability to come along with what republicans wanted to do, which is fine, their prerogative k to republicans saying we don't want to go along with what the democratsment to do. in short, he was seeking to control the agenda, and i think that's the real issue here. c
it wast( the prefiscal cliff or fiscal cliff 1.0 #. the 2001 tax cuts about to expire. senator reid on the floor, the democrats did not want to extend all tax cuts, just some of the tax cuts, and he was trying to create an impression that, at the time, that republicans were obstructing the process and what the democrats wanted to do, but in reallots what reid was trying to do, i believe, was set the agenda and create an environment so that he could win politically and set up after the quote, a...
130
130
Dec 5, 2012
12/12
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CSPAN2
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there are several parts to this fiscal cliff. the biggest one is that the bush-era tax cuts are expiring on 100% of the people, and if they expire, it means people will have to pay more in taxes at a time when we don't want them to have to struggle. we want them to have disposable income because it's good for their families and it's good for the economy, it's good for business, it's good for economic growth. the bush-era tax cuts are expiring on december 31. why don't we find the common ground, get rid of that issue, get those tax cuts to the 98% of the middle class that need them and fight about the millionaires and the billionaires later? they are okay. they are just fine. and if we were to do that, that simple step -- and that means passing our bill that we passed on july 25. we did it. it's done. we don't have to worry about -- we did our job over here. we got the votes. pick it up and pass it over there. now, i understand that democratic leader pelosi has done something very interesting. she has taken this bill, the same exa
there are several parts to this fiscal cliff. the biggest one is that the bush-era tax cuts are expiring on 100% of the people, and if they expire, it means people will have to pay more in taxes at a time when we don't want them to have to struggle. we want them to have disposable income because it's good for their families and it's good for the economy, it's good for business, it's good for economic growth. the bush-era tax cuts are expiring on december 31. why don't we find the common ground,...
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235
Dec 4, 2012
12/12
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CSPAN2
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newspaper stories day after day on the so-called fiscal cliff often omit that the senate has passed legislation to shield 98% of families and 97% of small businesses from the income tax part of this so-called fiscal cliff. we passed the middle-class tax cuts act on july 25 of this year and we sent the measure to the house of representatives. did speaker boehner and the republicans in the house promptly pass this popular bill and send it to president obama for his signature? did they move to protect 98% of middle-class families from this tax hike in january? no. no. they decided to hold the middle-class tax cuts passed by the senate hostage in an attempt to push for tax cuts for the folks they care the most about, the top 2% of highest earning households. republicans fighting for millionaires and billionaires is not a new story. in 2001, president george w. bush decided to spend a large portion of the surpluses he inherited from president clinton to cut tax rates. many democrats opposed him then because the tax cuts were unfair, favoring the highest-income americans. to overcome that obstacle, t
newspaper stories day after day on the so-called fiscal cliff often omit that the senate has passed legislation to shield 98% of families and 97% of small businesses from the income tax part of this so-called fiscal cliff. we passed the middle-class tax cuts act on july 25 of this year and we sent the measure to the house of representatives. did speaker boehner and the republicans in the house promptly pass this popular bill and send it to president obama for his signature? did they move to...
98
98
Nov 29, 2012
11/12
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CSPAN2
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eye 98
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now, you talk about a fiscal cliff now? think about the cliff that members of congress are going to face because we didn't do our job in addressing this issue when the solutions were there in a relatively clear glide path that would be relatively unnoticed in most households. this is what will happen: there would be a 25% automatic cut to the retirement payments and the disability payments now going out in social security. that would be an average of $308 per month. now, the social security trustees put it straight out there. they said, they have two ideas to shore up social security right now. one is to immediately and permanently increase the combined payroll tax on employees and employers from 12.4% to 15%. so that would be a one-fifth increase in the payroll taxes that are in the norm being paid today. the other alternative they suggested is to cut core benefits right now. $200 per month they said would do it. $200 per month cuts in social security checks. i don't believe anybody believes that is feasible or desirable,
now, you talk about a fiscal cliff now? think about the cliff that members of congress are going to face because we didn't do our job in addressing this issue when the solutions were there in a relatively clear glide path that would be relatively unnoticed in most households. this is what will happen: there would be a 25% automatic cut to the retirement payments and the disability payments now going out in social security. that would be an average of $308 per month. now, the social security...
62
62
Nov 29, 2012
11/12
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CSPAN2
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eye 62
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cliff in the next five minutes and pass what the senate passed, which is to renew all the bush tax cuts and go back for those over 250,000 to the rates of bill clinton. that's what we passed here. that will bring us almost a trillion dollars over ten years. that will get us to climb down that cliff. then we have got other parts of the cliff, there's no question about it, the automatic sequester. i think it's easy to deal with that by bringing home some of the overseas account money and applying it to the sequester and getting rid of at least half of that sequester, maybe all of the sequester. but no, you're going to listen to these speeches every day about how we're obsessed with taxes. what are you talking about, obsessed with taxes? i'll tell you what i'm obsessed about. i'm obsessed with the fact that we passed here a tax cut for 98% of the american people and our friends are so worried about the millionaires and the billionaires that they will not allow that bill to be voted on in the house. so people can stand up here from morning, noon, and night and i want them to and i respect t
cliff in the next five minutes and pass what the senate passed, which is to renew all the bush tax cuts and go back for those over 250,000 to the rates of bill clinton. that's what we passed here. that will bring us almost a trillion dollars over ten years. that will get us to climb down that cliff. then we have got other parts of the cliff, there's no question about it, the automatic sequester. i think it's easy to deal with that by bringing home some of the overseas account money and applying...
64
64
Nov 29, 2012
11/12
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CSPAN2
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eye 64
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some would try to suggest the fiscal cliff is not a big economic problem. it is. it would be deeply irresponsible, as steve said, to create a recession through lack of political action. the immediate question -- we want to extend them for most people. but we also want to do is engage in tax reform that would ultimately produce lower rates even potentially for the wealthy. something the president called for in the campaign -- making the tax code simpler and clearing out a lot of loopholes. there is a certain amount of revenue you will have to get to put us on the right physical path. there is a number that roughly as agreed to that any bowles- simpson, and the fiscal experts said you had to get to. the expiry of the bush tax is not the end of the story. we have to engage in a comprehensive tax reform. we need to engage an entitlement reform. medicare, medicaid, the chief drivers of our president -- deficit. we made a lot of progress, but there is still spending we have to cut. the big bottleneck is republicans in congress on revenue and how much they're willing to
some would try to suggest the fiscal cliff is not a big economic problem. it is. it would be deeply irresponsible, as steve said, to create a recession through lack of political action. the immediate question -- we want to extend them for most people. but we also want to do is engage in tax reform that would ultimately produce lower rates even potentially for the wealthy. something the president called for in the campaign -- making the tax code simpler and clearing out a lot of loopholes. there...